Wasco County pledges $50k to animal shelter

THE DALLES — Wasco County commissioners voted Nov. 5 to pledge $50,000 to the Columbia Gorge Humane Society, offering a short-term lifeline to the region’s only major animal shelter while insisting that the city of The Dalles share the cost, and that a more permanent funding fix be found.

The unanimous vote directs the county to contribute $50,000 from special projects funds toward an executive director position and to help cover utilities at the county-owned shelter building on River Road, but only if The Dalles agrees to put up an equal amount.

The arrangement could give the nonprofit roughly $100,000 in breathing room as it confronts rising animal intakes, mounting utility bills and what Wasco County Administrator Tyler Stone described as a familiar cycle of crisis funding.

“I’m in it to solve it for the short term right now,” Stone said, warning that the county does not want to return to “this reoccurring… ‘there’s never enough’ scenario.”

Progress built on volunteers

In a letter included in the board packet, Columbia Gorge Humane Society Board President Suny Simon told commissioners the nonprofit has “made great progress since taking over the shelter in April of 2024,” stabilizing operations and finances after Home At Last ran out of money and ceased running the facility.

However, Simon cautioned that the turnaround has depended on what she called “unsustainable volunteer efforts.”

Simon wrote that she has been acting simultaneously as executive director, shelter manager, volunteer coordinator, adoption coordinator and chair of the fundraising committee, roles that she said cannot continue indefinitely.

“To operate effectively and meet the growing needs of our community, we must secure stable leadership and cover the basic costs of maintaining the county-owned facility in which we operate,” Simon wrote.

The shelter, she noted, provides an “essential public service” by taking in stray, abandoned and surrendered animals, reuniting pets with their families and adopting animals into loving homes, while working with law enforcement and animal control to address ongoing welfare challenges in Wasco County and The Dalles.

Simon also told commissioners the nonprofit is “actively pursuing the formation of a special district” for animal services, a tool that could create long-term, dedicated funding. But until that can be put before voters, she wrote, the shelter urgently needs the county and city “to partner with us in bridging the gap.”

“Without this immediate support, the shelter cannot fully meet the needs of our community’s animals or the people who depend on us,” the letter said.

145 dogs, thin margins

Appearing before the commissioners, founding Columbia Gorge Humane Society Board Member Breanna Wimber said the animal shelter needs financial support to cover the shelter building’s utilities, as well as an executive director position.

“The animal shelter over the past 12 months has taken in 145 dogs, all from Wasco County and city of The Dalles proper, which is a large number for a very small dog shelter,” she said.

Those dogs, she added, are not owner walk-ins or convenience surrenders.

“Those are not like community surrenders,” Wimber added. “Those are directly derived from either city police or county sheriff’s bringing dogs in.”

The shelter’s work ranges from basic intake and adoption to medical care, behavior support and a spay-and-neuter program, currently focused on city residents but facing demand countywide. Many dogs arrive intact and in need of spay or neuter surgery. “It’s a big number,” Wimber said.

She described a steady stream of “repeat offenders:” dogs that escape inadequate fencing or are tied up without proper shelter, and owners who were unprepared when they adopted pets.

“We find a majority of people who are asking to surrender dogs just didn’t quite understand what it took to raise dogs and cats,” Wimber said. “Part of expanding out the services is expanding community outreach… so that people can be best equipped to be responsible pet owners, so that pet does not come back into the shelter.”

On the financial side, Wimber put the shelter’s total employment costs for a professional executive director (salary plus benefits and paid time off) at roughly $100,000 a year.

Utilities at the aging cinder-block building, which has little insulation or shade, have become “very burdensome:” electricity averages about $450 a month, garbage about $275, and water around $90.

Veterinary bills, Wimber added, run between $2,000 and $5,000 per month, spiking higher when sick or injured animals arrive. Those costs are partially offset by negotiated reduced rates but are still among the shelter’s largest recurring expenses.

A long history of make-do animal control

County Administrator Stone offered commissioners and the public a reminder: this is hardly the first time Wasco County has been forced to rethink how it handles animal control.

“Over the last 20 years, we’ve done this a number of different times with the shelter,” he said.

The county once housed animal control within the sheriff’s office, employing an animal control officer and operating a bare-bones county program.

“Typically counties do it as a very basic function,” he said, recalling that although it “wasn’t a kill shelter, per se,” many animals ultimately were euthanized because staff lacked the time and resources.

Around 2010–2012, Stone said, the county phased out its in-house animal control, and nonprofit partners began taking over shelter operations. That shift came with an understanding: the nonprofit would raise money and deliver more humane, comprehensive services, while the county stepped back from day-to-day animal care.

“My sense is we’ve been around this circle four or five or six different times now over the years, and the only solution really is around sustainable funding,” Stone said. Short-term county infusions might keep doors open, he said, but ultimately the animal control has lacked a consistent funding source.

When Columbia Gorge Humane took over after Home At Last collapsed financially, the county and city each contributed about $50,000, Stone reminded the board. That precedent shaped his recommendation this month.

Who pays for strays?

Commissioners zeroed in on a basic question: if dogs are coming in from law enforcement, and the animal shelter building is county-owned, who should carry the long-term responsibility — and cost — of animal control?

Statutorily, Stone said, counties must handle “some of these problem dogs,” but maintaining a full shelter operation is not a legal mandate.

“This is not just a county thing. It’s a city thing too,” Stone said. He urged discussions with the city and said his conversations with City Manager Matthew Klebes and Mayor Richard Mays suggested “an openness, willingness on the licensing side of stuff.”

Licensing is central to the emerging funding plan. Wasco County recently passed an ordinance requiring dog owners to license animals in the unincorporated county. But implementation depends heavily on veterinarians in The Dalles — and that, commissioners heard, has become a sticking point.

“Right now, it seems like the vets are fairly opposed to doing the licensing,” Stone said, noting that veterinary clinics are the only major control point the county has to enforce licensing rules.

The Dalles City Council tabled a vote on their dog control ordinance on Oct. 27 amid public concern over veterinarians reporting their clients’ data.

If clinics decline to participate, Stone warned, “we’re going to lose probably 80% of the licensing revenue,” which had been envisioned as a key support for the humane society.

Wimber said the shelter’s board is still gathering models from other counties with animal services districts: which ones have passed, at what rates, and how much was raised.

Everyone involved, she said, believes a district is needed, but convincing the public to accept a new tax will be difficult.

Several commissioners floated a regional approach, noting that Hood River County and smaller neighbors such as Sherman County also utilize The Dalles shelter, formally or informally.

“Sometimes it’s worth looking at that, because if you spread it out very broadly, and the amount of money needed is … minimal, then we can kind of all work together collectively,” Commission Chair Scott Hege said.

A contingent lifeline

After nearly an hour of discussion, the motion to supply the $50,000 passed unanimously.

“This is not done,” Chair Hege said, echoing Stone’s insistence on a long-term solution. “Everybody wants something that’s sustainable.”

Wimber assured commissioners that the humane society’s board shares that goal.

“We don’t want to fix this for six months and then come back,” she said. “We’re not short-sighted. We want to be able to be a part of the solution going forward … so that we can … hand off to the next board member, to the next generation.”

For now, the future of the animal shelter depends on what happens across town, when The Dalles takes up the same question: how much is the community willing to pay to help stray dogs and cats find permanent homes?

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November is Senior Month at the Columbia Gorge Humane Society, and Buddy cuddly the senior dog is looking for a forever home.

To view Buddy’s profile and other dogs and cats sheltering with the Columbia Gorge Humane Society, go to www.columbiagorgehs.org/adopt.html.